Moral Spectatorship

“[S]ophisticated and well written, drawing upon such diverse theoretical resources. . . .” - Lisa Schmidt, Velvet Light Trap

“Books critiquing other writers’ and theorists’ critiques of each other can be useful to the researcher, in the same way that annotated biographies can be useful. They provide a wide variety of sources on particular themes that can followed through to the primary sources, often yielding rich pickings on the way. In Moral Spectatorship, Lisa Cartwright launches herself from the first pages into just such a critique, examining psycho-analytic and film theories in relation to each other, demonstrating the breadth of her reading and the depth of her exclusive appreciation of how each interact.” - Flloyd Kennedy, M/C Reviews

“In the first of three chapters, the author underscores context. She devotes the remaining chapters to film analysis, presenting (among other films) The Miracle Worker and Johnny Belinda. The book’s primary audience will be scholars of film, disability, and women’s studies; it will be of tangential use to those interested in children’s culture and literature. Recommended.” - D. J. Brothers, Choice

“Lisa Cartwright’s Moral Spectatorship is an important book for those of us working with feminist and/or psychoanalytic film theories, disability studies and cultural studies more broadly. Cartwright’s skilful understanding of the field/s and their historical formation enables her to critically analyse the way our research paradigms become available and dominant. Questioning how we legitimate ourselves at the cost of leaving others behind is a necessary and timely venture, particularly in these conservative and neo-liberal times. Cartwright’s groundbreaking book reminds us of the radical ethical nature of the way we come to understand our selves, and, necessarily, urgently, each other.” - Kristina Marie Gottschall, Continuum

“Lisa Cartwright’s project is ambitious in scope and wide-ranging in topic. . . . Cartwright’s work is characterized by a striking ability to range through many discourses and texts, while eschewing the sweeping statement. . . . This is the work of a mature mind that is interested in many things and capable of making many connections. Hence, the project is a rich one. . . .” - Elizabeth Walden, Quarterly Review of Film and Video

“Moral Spectatorship is an important and brave book that dares to consider the formation of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in cinema (and life) through concepts such as feeling, affect, dependency, and care. Drawing upon psychoanalytic theory (not Lacan’s), Lisa Cartwright writes with both passion and skepticism about—and around—a selection of films that foreground the radically ethical nature of human communication, reminding us that film studies can change not only the way we see films but also the way we view our lives.” - Vivian Sobchack, author of Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture

“Uncovering alternative traditions in the psychoanalytic study of affect and object relations, while pairing them with deep explorations of American and continental moral philosophy, Lisa Cartwright proposes a series of arguments that will radically remap our understanding of spectatorship and identification. Moral Spectatorship is a path-breaking book and perhaps the first entirely new approach to subject, empathy, and affect in visual cultural studies to have appeared in the new millennium.” - D. N. Rodowick, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University